There have often been debates about how much access media get to college athletes. Some athletic departments give media wide-ranging access across sports, while others provide only certain players at certain times, and some rule out players entirely based on status (such as “no interviews with freshmen”). But it’s unusual to see “players won’t be available after losses,” as was the Texas A&M Aggies baseball team’s policy Saturday when Sam Khan Jr. of The Athletic noted this:
This is a first in my years of covering college sports: Texas A&M baseball’s media policy states that players won’t be made available for interviews after losses.
It’s currently on their web site: https://t.co/cNhkvpnjSi
Any reporters out there experience this elsewhere?
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) February 15, 2025
So soft pic.twitter.com/oja3i8gYkw
— joe country (@joecountry99) February 15, 2025
The A&M baseball media policies website has since been updated to remove the line “Note: players will not be available following a loss.” It’s not clear how long that language was previously in place or if it came from head coach Michael Earley (who took the job last summer) or from the athletic department.
And the team (currently ranked No. 1 in the country) has won its first two games this year, both this weekend (and did conduct some player interviews after those), so it’s not obvious if this policy was ever implemented. It’s also not clear how widespread the idea of no interviews after losses is, although one person responding to Khan noted that Texas’ baseball team (led by former Aggies’ coach Jim Schlossnagle, who left for the Longhorns last summer) has no such line in their media policy:
In case anyone is wondering: pic.twitter.com/kO9mHJstcB
— PeaceIn’25 #hookem (@UTPharmGurl) February 15, 2025
Khan also had some interesting notes on how this fit with his broader experience covering football and other sports at Texas A&M and elsewhere:
Disclaimer: I don’t cover college baseball, but this was brought to my attention by someone on the local A&M beat. I don’t know why A&M took this step.
But it aligns with a trend I’ve seen in recent years of A&M offering less access (at least in football) than its counterparts.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) February 15, 2025
I certainly understand that sentiment. I know there’s a lot of emotions when players put so much into this. You see it (especially after season-ending losses).
But like you said — when players get to the pros, the clubhouse is open win or lose.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) February 15, 2025
Agree that “forcing” players to talk is undesirable. We just make requests via the SID and the player can decide to come or not.
I just find the blanket “no one available after losses” to be misguided. Maybe some players want to talk. Tim Tebow’s “promise” speech was after an L.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) February 15, 2025
I find the vast majority of players I’ve dealt with after losses to be mature and thoughtful and handle it well. Again, never want to “force” someone who doesn’t want to be there.
But to me, there’s a happy medium between the two extremes.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) February 15, 2025
As noted, there’s a long history of access debates in a variety of college sports. Providing players for interviews only after a win would still be less restrictive than never providing players. But a policy of only conducting interviews at positive moments is particularly strange. It apparently drew enough criticism to be at least taken off the website, although it remains to be seen how many (if any) A&M players actually wind up being interviewed after losses.
